Year: 2025

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Donald – Scotland is not bad at all already and a damn sight safer too

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The homicide rate in Scotland? 0.8 per 100 000. The rate in the USA, 7.2 times higher! Professor John Robertson OBA Suffice to say, by contrast, sometimes stark, with England after decades of Tory/Labour rule, Wales after decades of Labour rule, Scotland has: With time, I could think of more. Ah, drug deaths! Falling but stalling, despite target beating treatment programmes, because of a recent surge of cheap, powerful, new drugs into towns and villages from English County Lines gangs. For those requiring a short cut to the evidence, try: What about the USA? Do I need to? Far higher … Continue reading Donald – Scotland is not bad at all already and a damn sight safer too

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For the best water in the world the Scottish Water CE earns only one-quarter of the going rate in England and Wales for rivers that cause sepsis and kidney failure

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian yesterday: Total remuneration at companies in England and Wales – many of them under scrutiny for sewage discharge – was £15m in 2024-25 – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/26/water-chiefs-pay-rises-england-wales-ban-bonuses-sewage Leaving aside the fact that they are responsible for 10 times as much water, serving an eleventh of the population of England and Wales, the Chief Executive of Scottish Water might be expected to earn around an eleventh of the total paid to the CE’s of the water boards there, £1.3m. The chief executive of Scottish Water, Alex Plant, has an annual salary of £290,000 to £295,000, making him one … Continue reading For the best water in the world the Scottish Water CE earns only one-quarter of the going rate in England and Wales for rivers that cause sepsis and kidney failure

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Domestic abuse previous – another factor in Scotland’s lack of riots last summer?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today, this striking information: Two out of every five people arrested after participating in last summer’s riots had been previously reported to the police for domestic abuse, the Guardian can disclose. Police data released under freedom of information (FoI) laws shows that 41% of 899 people arrested for taking part in the violent disorder last July and August had been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence. For those arrested by one police force, this figure was as high as 68%. Previous offences include actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, stalking, breach … Continue reading Domestic abuse previous – another factor in Scotland’s lack of riots last summer?

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Meagher, slow, performance by Labour councillor to recognise Edinburgh’s outperforming of London, because it contradicts her leader Anas?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Only yesterday, did Jane Meagher, City of Edinburgh Council Leader, manage to post a response to the news from the ONS, on 17 April 2025, showing that her city had overtaken London as the most productive city in the UK. https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/14243/edinburgh-s-economy-outperforms-london-s TuS was not exactly on the ball but we did it two weeks ago: From Regional gross domestic product: all ITL regions published by the ONS in April 2025 but, of course, not reported by any of the so-called Scottish media, the above stunning figures revealing the success of the Scottish Government’s economic policies – https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/datasets/regionalgrossdomesticproductallnutslevelregions In … Continue reading Meagher, slow, performance by Labour councillor to recognise Edinburgh’s outperforming of London, because it contradicts her leader Anas?

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The very real and tragic costs that competent government by the SNP has quietly averted by its handling of health service pay and conditions settlements

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The many strikes in NHS England in 2023, all averted by the Scottish Government, were at a real and tragic cost: From the ONS in March 2023: In total, at least 93,022 outpatient appointments, 18,716 elective procedures, 27,957 community service appointments and 9,634 mental health and learning disability (MHLD) appointments have been rescheduled because of strike action. These are reported figures and not all trusts submitted data, so they will be lower than the true figures.1 From LBC News in April 2023: Deaths rose after first round of junior doctors strikes, new data shows, as 96-hour walkout enters final day … Continue reading The very real and tragic costs that competent government by the SNP has quietly averted by its handling of health service pay and conditions settlements

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Trump still the less bad choice than Biden or Clinton for many in the world?

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Professor John Robertson OBA I wrote this about the Biden/Trump contest in 2020 and there’s a link to the earlier one with the dread Hilary Clinton in it. Trump’s complicity in the horror that is Gaza may moderate my position but it seems likely a Democrat president would have been no better. Here it is: If you live in the US, Trump is clearly the more bad choice. Though Biden is no socialist, there is some (little?) hope, under him, for the sick, the poor, women and ethnic minorities and less (little?) joy for the rich and the corporations. But, … Continue reading Trump still the less bad choice than Biden or Clinton for many in the world?

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Race hate crimes return to pre-pandemic level and remain well below the level under Labour but Daily Record tries to fool you with selective figures to blame SNP

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Daily Record today: Shock new figures from Police Scotland show cases of racial and religious abuse have risen sharply in the past three years. However the vast majority of reported crimes now involve what police term a “racial aggravator.” In 2022 there were 3838 recorded hate crimes where race was a factor, that rose to 3937 in 2023, and 4953 last year. In the first two months of 2025 there were 738 race related crimes reported to police. The rise in crime figures follows the introduction of new hate crime legislation last year by the then … Continue reading Race hate crimes return to pre-pandemic level and remain well below the level under Labour but Daily Record tries to fool you with selective figures to blame SNP

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‘An intolerable reality where their authentic self cannot fully exist or be expressed’ – How the insights of a Scottish ‘anti-psychiatrist’ may predict a disturbing future for the mental state of Scottish Labour politicians and for its followers

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Professor John Robertson OBA In 1975, in my first year at Stirling University, I was introduced to the revolutionary ideas of the Scottish ‘anti-psychiatrist’, R D Laing. I was struck by the clarity and coherence of Laing’s central thesis in ‘The Divided Self’: A central tenet of Laing’s thesis is the concept of the “divided self.” He proposed that individuals under severe duress, particularly within emotionally oppressive or manipulative family environments, might develop a profound split between their “true self” and a “false self.” The false self emerges as a protective mechanism, a way to conform to external expectations or … Continue reading ‘An intolerable reality where their authentic self cannot fully exist or be expressed’ – How the insights of a Scottish ‘anti-psychiatrist’ may predict a disturbing future for the mental state of Scottish Labour politicians and for its followers

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As resident (junior) doctor strikes begin today in NHS England, SNP settlement praised by BMA means NHS Scotland set to avoid thousands of excess deaths again

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Professor John Robertson OBA After the last set of Junior Doctor strikes in 2023/2024, there were serious concerns about postponed appointments and excess deaths due to these. Above, the shocking picture of 52 out of the last 365 when doctors were on strike in England. There were no days lost to action in Scotland. According to the Guardian on 10 January 2025, junior doctor strikes caused around 1.3 million appointments to be cancelled. Had there been comparable action in Scotland, around 130 000 appointments would have been lost. According to the Telegraph on 2 January, there were nearly 53 000 … Continue reading As resident (junior) doctor strikes begin today in NHS England, SNP settlement praised by BMA means NHS Scotland set to avoid thousands of excess deaths again

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‘I’d rather be a teacher in Scotland than England’ – research review confirms the sense in this

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By JB The headline above is from Teachers Education Supplement magazine 2019 in an article about a teacher from England who came to work in Scotland. “Teachers have a far better time of it north of the border, says this educator who has experienced school life in both countries”  He goes on to say that “On balance, I think teaching in the Scottish state- education system is better than in the English one. It seems foolish now that I never considered there would be differences; it’s just that my English-centric view had me assume that the two systems would be identical. Believe me, … Continue reading ‘I’d rather be a teacher in Scotland than England’ – research review confirms the sense in this